Tim Bauman: Fully Committed

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Currently, the Meal Maps and Menu Markers program is 60% implemented; Bauman hopes to have the program completely in place this summer.

Meal Maps and Menu Markers is just one component to the hospital’s commitment to better employee health. All employees who are on the hospital’s insurance plan have been biometrically screened, and once that data is analyzed, Bauman will have aggregate data on things like employees’ cholesterol and blood sugar. He hopes to check those same levels after the Meal Maps and Menu Markers program has been in place for one year to see if the cafeteria program is making a difference in the employees’ health.

Meals on Wheels: The hospital’s Meals on Wheels (MOW) program is a rare example of a completely volunteer-run MOW program, Bauman says. As such, it was having problems finding people to fill vacant leadership spots. “Some of the chairmen were taking on too many duties and then when they would leave the job seemed too overwhelming for a new person,” he says. “That makes it hard to get volunteers when they don’t feel they will be able to fill all the expectations.” So last year Bauman decided to implement a volunteer succession plan to help fix the problem.

Along with the program’s new chairman, Bauman rewrote job descriptions for the program and provided proper training for the volunteers so they felt comfortable in their roles. Since making the changes, Bauman says the MOW program is fully staffed and commitment is once again strong. In August 2008, Bauman was inducted as a fellow of nutrition to the National Center for Nutrition Leadership, a Meals on Wheels Association of America educational and development group. Following the induction, the volunteer succession plan was made available to all MOW programs.

Even with all the projects Bauman already has on his plate, he is about to add yet another. In the next couple of years, the hospital, and foodservice department, will undergo a much needed expansion project. A new 50-bed tower is being built and Bauman says work on a redesigned kitchen and servery will break ground in late 2010. “The cafeteria was built when we didn’t think we would have more than 250 people on campus,” Bauman says. “Now, we have more than 1,000 people on campus. Seventy percent of the food produced in the kitchen is not eaten in the cafeteria, whereas in most hospitals that number is around 50%. So I need a big cafeteria built to accommodate all the people on campus.”

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